


A Diary, Really?

by pleurocoelus



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Tom Riddle's Diary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-13
Updated: 2018-05-13
Packaged: 2019-05-05 23:56:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14629710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pleurocoelus/pseuds/pleurocoelus
Summary: Ginny Weasley is not terribly impressed with Tom Riddle's keeping of a diary. Tragedy is averted.





	A Diary, Really?

**Author's Note:**

> I'm cleaning up my thumb drive of writings and found this completed work. I hope you like it.
> 
> Here we see what might have happened if the sassy!Ginny who shows up later in the series had been there in Chamber of Secrets.
> 
> In my childhood/adolescence, the idea that any boy would keep a "diary" would have been laughable to me. A log or journal, sure, but diaries were for girls. (There is a difference to a teenage boy.) I know that the term used to be gender-neutral and that the wizarding world tends to lag behind in social customs, but this plot bunny wouldn't leave me alone.

"Hello, Ginny,” wrote the diary. “My name is Tom Riddle. How did you come by my diary?”

Ginny paused. She couldn't believe what she had read. Honestly, a diary?

Ginny burst out in laughter until she nearly rolled off her bed.

She wrote back: “Seriously, what kind of boy keeps a diary? The few who even bother to record their daily thoughts call it something 'manly' like a journal or a log. No self-respecting boy is going to call it a 'diary.' Goodbye, loser!”

Ginny slammed the book shut with a chuckle and ran downstairs to the Common Room hoping to find one of her brothers so she could tell them about the loser who had charmed this “Diary.” While she was descending the staircase, she remembered something her Dad had mentioned more than once: “Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain.”

Ginny froze in terror. “Dad works with cursed things at work,” she thought. “This diary might be cursed!”

With a shriek of horror, Ginny tore the rest of the way down the stairs to the Common Room. When she arrived, everyone's attention was on her. She ran over to where her brother Ron was sitting with his friends Harry Potter and Hermione Granger.

“Fred, George, Percy get over here,” she yelled urgently.

Percy didn't budge, but the twins hustled over.

“What is it, sister-ours?” George asked.

“Homework trouble?” Fred added.

“Dorm mate trouble?”

“Snape being a git?”

“Snape's always a git,” Ron interrupted. “What is it? Was that you who shrieked just before you came downstairs?”

“Yes, I'm the one who shrieked.” Ginny blushed. “I found this diary in my books. At first I thought that Mum and Dad gave me a journal to write in, but when I wrote in it, it wrote back.”

The three other Weasleys gasped.

Hermione interjected: “What's the big deal? I'm sure charmed diaries are rather commonplace in the Magical World.”

Fred answered her: “Charmed, yes but that doesn't sound like any charmed book I've ever seen. Most of them have privacy charms so that no one but the owner can open them.”

“Or else they see the writing garbled and illegible,” added George.

“Our Dad works in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office. He helps clean up when dark wizards give cursed things to Muggles. He always tells us...”

“Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain,” the four Weasleys said in unison.

“Oh,” said both Harry and Hermione.

Percy chose that moment to finally grace the group with his presence.

“What's this about Dad's favourite saying?” he asked.

Ron jumped in: “Ginny found a diary in her things and she thinks it might be cursed.”

Percy looked doubtful so Ginny spoke quickly: “I wrote in it and it wrote back to me.”

“You know,” Harry added, “Malfoy's dad did handle one of your books there at Flourish and Blotts. He might have slipped it in then.”

Percy's face took on a look of concern. “It might be nothing,” he said, “but to be safe we should probably bring this matter to Professor McGonagall's attention.

 

  **o0o0o0o0o0o**

   
Minerva McGonagall opened the door to her quarters to reveal a motley assemblage of seven Gryffindors standing there.

“Mr. Weasley,” she said, addressing Percy, “what can I do for you and your companions?”

“Professor, we have a matter of some concern. It might be nothing, but I decided that it was better to be safe than sorry. It seems that some unknown party had placed a book in with Ginevra's schoolbooks. The book in question displayed a quantity of intelligence. Given our father's work experience in dealing with cursed items for the Ministry, as well as the unpopularity of his ideals in certain sections of the populace, there exists the possibility that some unknown individual may have given my sister a cursed object.”

“I see,” said the professor. “Yes, it was prudent of you to bring this to my attention. As you said, this might simply be an innocent object. Mr. Weasley, you should go now and send an owl to your parents inquiring as to whether or not they gave this book to your sister. Instruct them that the reply should be directed to me.”

Percy thanked Professor McGonagall and handed her the book in question before hurrying away to follow her instructions.

“Miss Weasley, would you prefer that your siblings and friends stay with you or would you rather speak to me in private?”

“If you don't mind, professor, I would like them to stay with me,” Ginny answered. She looked at her brothers who seemed relieved to get to stay with her in this situation.

“Very well, come in, all of you.” Professor McGonagall moved behind her desk, conjuring six chairs for her visitors.

“Now, Miss Weasley, please tell me about the book.”

Ginny told her the events of the past hour with the others interjecting their own opinions from time to time. When Ginny had finished, Professor McGonagall asked her: “Miss Weasley, is there anything else that you may have omitted?”

Ginny blushed. “Well, professor, there is one thing. Before I realized that the diary might have been cursed, I teased it a bit. About a boy having a diary instead of a journal. I mean, it is kind of girly.”

“I see,” said Professor McGonagall. “You should know, Miss Weasley, that the term 'diary' was originally a word that either gender might have used. The exclusively feminine usage of the word is a more recent innovation. That being said, I am glad that you realized that the book might be dangerous. The other professors and I will examine it carefully and, if there is no danger, we will return it to you.

“Now, I believe you have just enough time to make it to the Common Room before curfew, but I will write you a note just in case. Please do not abuse it.” With that last sentence, she fixed a stern look on Fred and George.

After writing the note and shooing her Lions out of her office, Minerva McGonagall returned to her desk and picked up the book. When she saw the name on the cover, she dropped the book in alarm. She hurried over to the floo and called the Headmaster.

“Albus, one of Tom Riddle's possessions has found its way to Hogwarts.”  


**Author's Note:**

> There you have it. Dumbledore will no doubt discover that the diary is a horcrux. The Chamber will not be opened and Harry will have one normal year at Hogwarts.  
> Dobby will still be freed because I'm the author and I say so. This story has a happy ending, after all.
> 
> I probably won't write any more on this story, but you never know where or when the muse will strike. Others have written similar stories where the diary is discovered before real harm can be inflicted. Go read those.
> 
> I'm assuming that Dumbledore has told McGonagall Voldemort's real name at some point. The idea that his name is a state secret is fanon. I can find no canon support for it.
> 
> Also, I've always liked the idea that Ginny could tell the twins apart but she wouldn't tell them how.


End file.
